We anticipate that this service will be both in-person and on Zoom. Click right here Sunday shortly before 10:00 a.m. to join via Zoom. Click here to read our protocols for in-person attendance.When attending in person, please completely power off your cell phone during the service to preserve the Church’s WiFi bandwidth for our Zoom attendees.
How intriguing to have our new All Souls congregant and artist, Trish Murtha, bring us her perspective to create a service on our theme of “Beauty”—which is what, exactly? Trish shares with insight and humor how “the eyes” have it, or not, depending on the depth and clarity of our vision and experience. Seek beauty and ye shall find it, oft in the most unlikely places and when we are not seeking it at all.
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Order of Service
“Beauty—Behold with New Eyes”
ASC Board Greeting & Announcements Ron Niswander
Prelude for Lute, BWV 998 J. S. Bach
Eva Greene, piano
Hymn #123: “Spirit of Life” Carolyn McDade
Chalice Lighting: Selected lines from John O’Donohue and Helen Keller Read by Maisie Crowther
“The graced eye can glimpse beauty anywhere…It does not wait for perfection but is present already secretly in everything. When we beautify our gaze, the grace of hidden beauty becomes our joy and our sanctuary.”
We are reminded that those whose eyesight is limited see differently and deeply, as noted by Helen Keller who said,”The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”
Lighting Our Children’s Chalice
We light this chalice to celebrate Unitarian Universalism. We are the church of the open minds. We are the church of the helping hands. We are the church of the loving hearts.
Reading: Selections from Kahlil Gibran “On Beauty” Read by Maisie Crowther
“And a poet said, Speak to us of Beauty. And he answered:
It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted…
an image you see though you close your eyes and
a song you hear though you shut your ears…
Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.”
Anthem: “For the Beauty of the Earth
words by Folliott S. Pierpoint, music by Geoffrey T. Shaw
All Souls Choir, Tom Baehr, director
Moments of Beauty: Scrolls from the congregation Shared by Trish Murtha
Story for All Ages: “I Am Enough” by Grace Byers
Read by Beth McKinney
Hymn STLT #44: “We Sing of Golden Mornings”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, music: Southern Harmony (1835)
Reflection: “Having New Eyes” Trish Murtha
Inviting the Offering shared with Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Emergency Fund for Ukraine Karen Tyler
Offertory: Berceuse Leo Brouwer
Eva Greene, piano
Honoring Joys and Sorrows Karen Tyler with Trish Murtha
Closing Hymn STJ #1053: ” How Could Anyone Ever Tell You”
Libby Roderick
Extinguishing the Chalice Maisie Crowther
All things await the sensitive and imaginative mind that seeks the unknown, that finds adventure and joy in tiny miracles. When our eyes are graced with wonder, the world and her people reveal their perfect imperfections to teach us of our astounding strength and wholehearted beauty. Only then can the deepest light of life shine into us and radiate from us in a million ways
Communal Round: “Now I Walk in Beauty” Blessing from the Navajo tradition (see insert)
Led by our All Souls Church Choir
Closing Circle: “Carry the flame of peace and love until we meet again.”(2x)
Community Conversation
ASC Covenant
We build our church on a foundation of love, and covenant with one another:
to freely explore our values and honor our diversity as a source of communal strength,
to accept responsibility for our individual acts and promote justice and peace,
to celebrate the joys of discovery, embracing the fullest measure of our humanity,
to communicate with kindness and support,
to serve with compassion and commitment,
to openly share our laughter and tears,
and to show reverence for the divine in all that is.*
[adopted on April 17, 2001]